Sam Vander Wielen
My weekly newsletter, Sam’s Sidebar, is where online business meets real life — the legal tips you need, marketing strategies that actually work, and the perspective to build something that sustains you, not just your bottom line. One honest email a week. “Possibly the best emails I’ve ever read from someone I’ve not met IRL.” - Phil, subscriber. JOIN 48k SMART CREATORS ⤵️
the lesson I needed to learn?
If It Feels Like You're Going Nowhere I muttered curse words under my breath nearly the entire 12-mile hike up the steepest mountain I'd ever set foot on. Step-after-step, I felt like I was hiking on a road to no where. My hangry alarm had gone off hours ago. I'd eaten all the trail mix and turkey sticks I'd had in my pack. I refused to drink water, because I was sick of peeing in the bushes. I felt sweat dripping down my back and calves. "We're almost there, Sam" our guide, Karina, said....
You step onto the stage 🎤
I Never Thought This Would Be My Story "I have no idea whether my business is going to work out or where the heck I'm headed." ^ Raise your hand if you've had this thought already today. (Woah! I think I just felt the flutter of 48k+ hands flying up in the air!) Whether you're just starting out or taking your business to the next level, it's really hard to have faith that this whole business thing is going to work out. Even as someone with an established business, I have so many days where...
freebies are the problem?
🌶️ A Spicy Deal Not sure what to do when a client owes you money? Scoop up my Late Payment Email Template that shows you what to say, when and what not to do to accidentally waive your rights. Get paid and avoid legal hot water? Yes and yes. Download my $7 Late Payment Email Template → Maybe What Your Business Needs is More Action "I just wish I had more PDFs in my inbox." ^ Said you, never. When I started my business in 2016, I was freebie-loaded. If freebies were currency, I could've bought...
the decision that changed everything?
When Should You Go For It? "Why are you even here?" ^ What my law firm co-workers used to ask me when they saw how I lit up talking about the fresh fettuccine I'd just made. As soon as I became an attorney, I knew it wasn't my thing. Over the next 5+ years practicing law, my colleagues associated me more with what I ate than what motion I wrote that week. It 'only' took me 5 years, a lot of saving, and careful planning, but I decided to stop being the girl known for cooking and start becoming...
You are so much more than this
The Queen is Dead I used to be the Queen of Content. Before my dad got leukemia, the Queen would pump out: 2x/weekly YouTube videos a podcast episode 2 brand-new newsletters; and endless amounts of social media content... ...every week! Typing out that list makes me want to puke. Who was that Queen? I don't know, because she's been dead for a long, long time. Through my dad's cancer battle and my parents dying within the same year -- I went into Maintenance Queen mode. But 2 years ago today,...
You're wealthy (but it's not good)
You're on Information Overload (& it's killing your business) "The internet doesn't exist for the time being." ^ What you need to say the next time you catch yourself researching whether you should run Facebook ads to a course you haven't even created yet. It's also what one of my favorite YouTubers, Makari Espe (who I wrote about in my book!), said in her latest video documenting her 30-day journey to learn how to play golf. Her golf experiment came with a big lesson on info and how it's...
The $338K “overnight” launch that actually took 10 years
By the Time You "Launch," It's Too Late He got me 😭 The other day, one of my favorite YouTubers posted a video about how he did his first HYROX race with zero training. 👀 Considering I busted my hump for 6+ months last summer/fall to train and compete in my first HYROX race last November, I couldn't believe what I was reading... In his video, he shares how he just 'showed up' and competed without any training -- only to finish in a crazy record time! That's when it hit me... He didn't "just...
My book launch gave me a black eye (literally)
What You Can't Plan For I heard the crack before I felt the searing pain of it. It only took a second for my brain to register what had just happened. "NOOOOOOO!!!" I heard Lindsey, my Director of Ops say, bolting out of her chair in the corner of the salon. My hairdresser, Nicole, came up for a closer look. "It's ok," she said with a look of reassuring horror on her face, "I'll clean up the blood." 🩸 THE BLOOD?!?! A big, heavy metal light fell and smacked me in the face, cutting my cheek,...
Your next 90 days in business
To Plan or Not To Plan Before my first marketing meeting with my publisher a few months ago, I drafted a marketing 'pie in the sky' plan in Google Drive. It was something like, "if I had all of the resources and time in the world, here's exactly how I would launch, market, and sell my book..." (is this something you'd ever be interested in hearing more about? 'Reply' and let me know. I haven't shared about it because I assume no one wants to know!) With just 2 WEEKS before my first book, When...
Before I Knew Enough to Care
Before I Knew Enough to Care If you thought you recognized me from somewhere, it might have been my summer camp's 1996 production of Annie... Or was it when I played Doorman #2 in the Wizard of Oz that summer of '93? You see, Reader -- I was a child actor. Or at least that's the bit I have going with my husband, Ryan, about the 10 years I spent in drama camp as a kid. I swear it's the reason why I've never been afraid to get on stories or show up on YouTube... And it's probably the reason why...
My weekly newsletter, Sam’s Sidebar, is where online business meets real life — the legal tips you need, marketing strategies that actually work, and the perspective to build something that sustains you, not just your bottom line. One honest email a week. “Possibly the best emails I’ve ever read from someone I’ve not met IRL.” - Phil, subscriber. JOIN 48k SMART CREATORS ⤵️